Singapore  - Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) on Wednesday posted a 30-per-cent drop in net profit for the fourth quarter of 2008.

Net profit from October to December fell to 301 million Singapore dollars (197 million US dollars) from 428 million Singapore dollars during the same period in 2007, the bank reported.

Singapore - Following the global economic downturn, profits at Singapore's largest insurance group, Great Eastern Holdings, halved in 2008, the company said on Tuesday.

Full year profit for 2008 tumbled to 272.4 million Singapore dollars (178.56 million US dollars), a 50 per cent drop compared to the record high of 546.9 million Singapore dollars the group achieved in 2007.

"For 2008, the group's performance was affected by the financial downturn which directly impacted the investment performance of all the funds," the company said in a statement.

For the fourth quarter of 2008, Great Eastern reported a profit of 76.5 million Singapore dollars, a drop of 47 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Singapore - Singapore shares fell 2.5 per cent Tuesday as stock markets tumbled across Asia.

Singapore  - Following the global economic slowdown and shrinking demand for electronics and other goods from all it's top markets, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports suffered a year-on-year fall of 35 per cent in January, the International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the city state's agency to promote external business, reported on Tuesday.

The heavy drop in January followed a year-on-year decline by 21 per cent in December.

Singapore - A Singapore court sentenced a 22-year-old man to three years in prison Tuesday for smuggling about 14,000 cartons of duty-unpaid cigarettes and not paying tax on the goods, media reports said.

The weight of the cigarettes reached almost 3,000 kilograms. The unpaid duty amounted to 1 million Singapore dollars (650,000 US dollars); the excise tax reached nearly 92,000 Singapore dollars.

Singapore - Singapore Airlines (SIA) Monday said it planned to reduce capacities by 11 per cent in the coming financial year, which starts in April, owing to a drop in demand.

Citing falling demand, as reflected in advance bookings, SIA said it would decommissione 17 aircraft.

"Before recession hit major markets, the plan was for only four aircraft to be phased out - one for conversion to a freighter, and three to be returned to lessors at completion of lease contracts," it said in a statement.